The White Wolf Chronicles
by The Burning Cheese
Summary: This is a story about the warriors of the White Wolf clan of waterbenders. Set not long before the Occupation of Ba Sing Se.
1. Chapter 1

**THE WHITE WOLF CHRONICLES**

***NOTE: This story is set not long before the occupation of Ba Sing Se***

In a land uncharted in the seas between the frozen tundra of the northern water tribe and the very northwest of the Earth Kingdom stood a massive island, hidden under a heavy cloud cover and a thick layer of foggy, dry air, a land barely touched by civilization stood. This land was created by the bending might of an Avatar, known as the White Wolf, who sought after sanctuary, thousands and thousands of years ago.

According to the legends, the Avatar caused the Earth itself to move, forming an island, then created a massive maelstrom that conjured clouds and mists to protect the his or her sanctuary from pirates and travelers. Those who wander into the mists rarely leave it, and those who do never caught sight of the island. Although the island is a common myth passed down generations after generations.

What various other common people do not know, however, is what lies within the island. A culture which has isolated itself from the rest of the world lives on the island, direct descendants of the White Wolf. Despite their isolationism, they are far from what people would call "primitives". They are extremely hostile to outsiders who discover their island, and live by a way of life called "The Warpath", designed to raise the clansmen and women up to be both powerful and honorable warriors and waterbenders.

To honor the White Wolf's wishes to keep his or her sanctuary a secret to the outside world, the clan of the White Wolf is to eliminate all outsiders who wander into their land, whether their intentions be peaceful or hostile. Few know where the island is, and none know of the tribe. Little sun and moonlight ever reaches past the layers of clouds and fogs, giving the island a dark, dim atmosphere, often snowing and always cold as ice. This, however, had not seemed to affect the water tribe's natural tanned skin pigment.

The White Wolf's waterbender bloodline is a very strong one, and after thousands and thousands of years, every single child who descended from the bloodline possessed the ability to waterbend with healing capabilities, gifted with the potential to surpass even the greatest waterbending masters of the outside world. Every child but one.

**Chapter one: Exile**

Enzo is a fourteen-year-old boy. The special thing about him is not that he can waterbend, but it is that he can't. In a community of waterbenders, it is a disadvantage to be unable to do so, even though the outside world would say otherwise. This, however, isn't the outside world. This is the White Wolf Island, where all clansmen so far can waterbend. All except Enzo. In combat, the clansmen would carry a skin of water to waterbend with, and a bladeless katana-style sword hilt with ice stored in the scabbard.

The blade is created by reforming the ice in the scabbard, allowing for a more versatile use of the weapon, whether it is as a solid ice sword or a water whip, or even an axe to chop trees down. Enzo, however, carry only a normal steel katana, and although he considers himself an at least decent swordsman, he has yet to ever defeat his waterbending peers. He has very short, neat hair, with the tanned skin of a water tribesman which descended from the White Wolf, but unnatural bright green eyes, unlike other clansmen with deep, dark brown eyes.

His mother passed away during childbirth, and his father, although always dutiful, is a dull and glum man, rarely caring for him, waking up to do work and going to sleep when his work is done. The older clansmen say that his father used to be a happier, brighter man, but not after the death of his mother. However, Enzo does have a group of friends who he frequently hangs out with, starting with Kaido, who is sixteen-years-old and warchief's son, who acts like a leader of sorts for the group. There is Pakku, Enzo's neighbor who acts like the second-in-command of the group. Others include Baki, a ten years old who is hyperactive, and doesn't speak clearly due to a few missing teeth, and there is Rika, who is as old as Enzo is, but usually shy and does not speak much.

**+The Village+ (Enzo's POV)**

Enzo raced down the street with Baki while Pakku, who was covered in putrid waste water chasing them down after having a prank played upon him by the younger boys by fooling him to stand and close his eyes in front of a sewer grate. Longships lined up along the pier, the crewmen atop them clearing away the snow. The decks of the longships are armed with waterbending-powered cannons, with steel frame at the bottom of the ship hull to enable the ships to travel through thick ice. As they ran, Baki turned around and laughed at Pakku, not noticing the dockworker carrying cargo in front of him. Baki crashed face first into the man, knocking both of them over. The cargo box fell to the ground and smashed open, giving off a disgusting odor of fish.

"Run!" Enzo yelled, laughing.

At this point, all of the kids were running together, all of them being chased by the dockworker. They ran through the alley, leaping over fences with Llama-Oxens in it. They took several shortcuts along the village, but the grown man was faster and caught up to them swiftly.

"Split up!" Pakku shouted, before they ran in different ways at an intersection.

Enzo ran, breathing hard. He looked behind him for a split second to see who the dockworker was chasing. Unluckily, it was him. He jumped up a bench nearby and vaulted himself onto a snow-filled roof. The dockworker ran parallel to him as he leapt off the roof onto another. He leapt over too more roofs until he was about to leap another bound, but he slipped on the snow and lost his footing. He slipped over, his back against the roof, sliding down it along with the snow. He tried desperately to grab on to the edge of the roof, but the thick gloves to protect him from the cold wasn't helping. He fell, screaming. He closed his eyes as he was about to hit the road below him.

He braced for impact, and heard a thud. However, he didn't feel the ground. He opened his eyes, and found himself in Kaido's arms. Kaido is sixteen year old, with short but messy hair, and deep-brown serious eye, similar of that of a hawk. He wore the clan's full battle armor.

The clan's battle armor includes a thick hardwood chest plate colored white with a black roaring wolf's head sigil on it. The shoulder plate is a thinner flexible wood plate tied into the chest plate, designed to not obstruct the arm's movements. The gauntlets are also hardwood, stretched from the shin to the fingertips with steel plates on both the front and the back of the palm to block weapon attacks with their bare hands. The lower armor consisted of thigh protection legplates kept stationary by a rope around the back of the leg. The boots are designed to keep a stable footing in ice and snow. The hat is fairly flat and coned solid steel with sharp edges, designed to be used as a last resort weapon. Except for the wolf sigil, the armor is all colored white for the wearer to blend in with the snow.

Although he smiled frequently and laughed at jokes, Kaido's smiles and laughs felt empty and dry to Enzo. However, Kaido was the oldest in the group. Before Enzo could thank him, Kaido let go of him and he hit the ground, butt first.

"Yeowch! Kaido, what are you doing?" He said.

"I did tell you to wait and stay put while I get roasted walrus-prawn meat for Rika didn't I?" Kaido spoke in a serious tone.

"Sorry…"

"Tell it to him, not me." Kaido pointed to the angry dockworker.

"Sorry, sir." Enzo said to the dockworker.

"Your father will hear about this, Enzo. This has been what, the third time this week you've caused some kind of problem?" he said, walking away.

"Well it wasn't me who ran into you…" Enzo murmured under his breath.

"What'd you do this time?" Kaido asked him.

"I didn't do anything! Baki crashed into the man, we ran, we split up and the guy came after me!"

"And Baki was running because?"

"Well, we played a prank on Pakku and he chased after us…"

"Then it's your fault as well."

"What? But that's just not fair!"

Before they could continue their argument, Baki and Pakku caught up to them. However, before they can speak, two men in full armor approached them and one of them tapped on Kaido's shoulder to get his attention. Both men looked grim and serious, although it is difficult to see as they have covered their nose and mouth with a piece of cloth.

"Hmm?" Kaido said, turning around.

"Chief wants you at the altar." One of the men spoke.

"Father wants me? Why? Hasn't he been informed that my shift's over?

"The warchief has acknowledged the end of your shift, and has requested your presence. He added that it is urgent. We are told to escort you to your father."

"Lead the way." Kaido said, shrugging.

As he walked away, Rika tugged on his sleeve. "Can we come too?" she spoke softly.

Kaido turned to the men. They nodded. "Fine, follow me."

They arrived at the Altar of judgment not long after. The altar is used for the execution of the outsides who wanders into the island. There are large steps laid before them, each containing a brazier of fire, crackling in tune with the wind. The warchief stood, watching the sun set, before turning around as he heard their footsteps. The warchief wore a fur and feather headdress, with his official face paint on, carrying his ivory cane due to his left leg being disabled during an avalanche.

The warchief cleared his throat. "I never thought I would have to do this, especially to my very own son, Kaido."

"What do you mean?" Kaido asked, confused.

"I think I know what you mean, Kaido. Bring him." He signaled to his guards.

The guards brought out a young man, who Enzo noticed was one of Kaido's packmate. The hunting parties and scout parties operated in squads, called "packs". Kaido suddenly looked grim. "You told them?" Kaido said with a shaking voice full of dread. All his packmate could do was close his eyes and turned away in guilt.

"You had the responsibility as a pack leader. You found outsiders on our shores, and you let them leave. Kaido, this is a serious crime against out thousand-year-old laws and traditions." The warchief continued.

"They didn't deserve to die because they were lost in a storm, father. It was a small trading ship with just a girl and her grandfather on it. It clearly did not pose a threat to the clan."

"What part of 'ALL intruders must be captured' do you not understand! Oh, and they may not pose physical threats to us, my boy, but what about later? They will pass on the tale of the secret island in the mists, and people will know of our existence. They will being war and death upon us, what will you say then when you watch your family and friends get slaughtered in front of you because you are an inconsiderate fool!" Kaido turned away, silent. "Tell me, son, what will you say then!"

Kaido blinked hard for a long moment, and tears flowed from his eyes. "Nothing." He whispered.

"I think we both know what this means, my son. I am sorry for you, but it must be done. From this day forth, you are no longer one of us. I deem you unfit to bear our sigil and follow the way of our forefathers. You… are exiled!" The kids protested, all at once, making their protests unintelligible. "Guards, undo his armor."

The guards stepped forwards and removed Kaido's armor, leaving him with only his Hat, gauntlet, boots and his weapons. "Although we are strict, we are not merciless." The warchief continued. Here is food for you, enough to last a week, enough for you to last long enough to find the mainland. However, you must take the oath of silence. Repeat after me. 'I, Kaido the exiled of the White Wolf clan, take the oath of silence to never reveal information about the island to the outsiders'".

Kaido repeated after his father and took the food supplies from his father's hands. He embraced his father one last time before the guards asked him to follow them to a ship that will be his way out of the island.

Kaido had been like a father to Enzo, as his own father never really looks after him. He was also the leader of the group. Until now, he had not realized how much Kaido really meant to him, and although he thought that it would be the hardest decision he would have to make in his life, but he easily made his decision. Enzo breathed in as Kaido walked away.

"If he's leaving, then I'm leaving too!" Enzo yelled at the warchief, as everyone watched him in shock and disbelief.

**Man, took quite a bit to finish the first chapter. I appreciate all comments, suggestions and reviews about this story. I don't have much to say, but it is late at night where I live, so I will be brief. Thank you for reading.**

**-The Burning Cheese**


	2. Chapter 2

**THE WHITE WOLF CHRONICLES**

**Chapter 2: Ming Xie Village**

**Author's Note: If you were wondering, Pakku IS a tribute to the series' Master Pakku of the northern water tribe.**

**+On the rowboat+ (Kaido's POV)**

Their rowboat has already made it beyond the mists hiding White Wolf Island, but they have yet to see land in the horizon. The weather was warmer outside as the sun shines on Kaido's face. He looked up at it and had to turn away immediately due to its intensity. Inside the island, he could look up at the sun, which to him was just a ball of light in the clouds, but outside, it was much brighter. The sea was fairly calm and quiet, save the occasional cawing of birds that flew past them. The old wooden frame of the rowboat creaked quietly as the seawater waves battered against its hull. The ship went up, and then down repeatedly for hours as Kaido rowed and Enzo sat opposite him, silently munching on a loaf of bread, nibbling at the edges like a rabbit, leaving bits of crumbs on the floor.

After a very long silence, Kaido decided to speak. "You didn't have to come with me."

"I've made my decision. I'll live with it." Enzo replied as he swallowed a mouthful of bread.

"It wasn't you who broke the law. You have no reason to be here."

"No reason? I have nothing to go back to!"

"Don't say that. You have your father, and the gang."

"You're more of a father to me than my own father was, Kaido. He didn't even care to look after me. I'm nothing to him. Because of me, mother's dead and I can't even waterbend."

"It's not your fault that you were born, Enzo. Besides, the gang still needs you."

"No, they don't. Pakku will take good care of them."

Kaido sighed and stopped rowing, scratched his head then stretched out his arm. "Just… hand me a loaf. I'm hungry." Enzo grabbed a loaf of bread out of the loaf, but as he did, he stopped and looked down.

"Kaido, is it just me, or is the boat wet inside?"

Kaido looked down and found a gash in the bottom of the hull. Water was flowing through it slowly, but the damage is obvious. He quickly tossed the paddles over to Enzo, who caught them awkwardly, a chunk of bread still in his mouth.

"Row the boat! I'll keep the water out." He stood up and started to waterbend the water out of the hull with his hand motions, a small chunk at a time.

"Ugh-Uhh!" Enzo replied, his mouth stuff full of bread.

Although waterbending small amounts of water was easy, but Kaido had been doing it for almost an hour, and the waterbending was getting tiresome. He wiped his sweat off his sleeve before continuing the motion, bending the water out of the boat.

"Row faster!" He yelled.

"This is as fast as it gets!" Enzo yelled back, before looking at the hole in the bottom of the boat. "Water's coming in, Kaido! Bend it out!"

Kaido sat down, exhausted. "I can't."

Enzo made an angry face, and then it changed to a happy one. "Look!" Enzo pointed at the direction behind Kaido. "It's land!"

Not long after, they arrived at a dock. The hole had widened as time went and the boat sunk quickly when they got off it. The docks were full of people and trading ships. One of the men was pulling a net full of fishes, which were still desperately flapping their tails in vain trying to escape from it. The scent of the seawater is strong. Most of the people at the dock were big, strong men, as well as a few armed men wearing a coned hat in green attires, periodically checking out the ships.

"Look! A crowd!" Enzo yelled out as he pulled Kaido towards a crowd of people cheering. They slipped through the mass of sailors and dockworkers, all of them reeking of fish and seawater. When they got to the front, Kaido saw two sailors trading punches against each other as the spectators yelled and encouraged them to fight, some of them screaming out instructions to the sailors on what they should do.

One of the sailors, who were ripped with muscles, had a dark skin and a tattoo of a platypus bear on his right shoulder delivered a solid punch at the other sailor, who was of a smaller frame, but equally as muscular with an eye patch and yellow, crooked teeth. The tattooed man delivered a solid blow at the smaller man, who guarded the blow with his forearm before delivering a counter-offensive, striking at the tattooed man's jaw. The blow was unsuccessful as the tattooed man veered to the left, dodging the punch. With his body weight behind him, the tattooed man charged forwards and tackled the other sailor to the ground. The sailors grappled on the ground, causing clouds of dust to erupt from it.

Suddenly, the ground struck back as the earth rose upwards and enveloped both of the men fighting on the ground. Kaido looked up as someone pushed him out of the way from behind. He lost balance and nearly fell, but remained standing. He looked backwards and noticed that the crowd has parted for three of the men with green attires. One of them made a hand gesture and the stone prison opened up. The sailors got off each other and stood up. Kaido noticed that these men must be earthbenders.

"He started it, officer!" The smaller sailor spoke, pointing at the tattooed man.

"That's Komodo Rhino crap! He's the one who started it." The tattooed man protested.

"Shut up. You're both coming with me." The green man commanded as his subordinates cuffed the sailors in stone. "What are you people looking at?" he yelled at the crowd. "Nothing to see here back to your businesses, people!"

Enzo was watching the earthbenders in awe, his eyes shining at their prowess. Kaido, however, turned to a dockworker standing beside him.

"Sorry, mister, but who are those?" Kaido asked the dockworker.

"Earth Kingdom dock guards. There are plenty of fights around here, and they stop 'em. Don't get into too much trouble, kid, or they'll come after you."

"I'll try not to. Might I ask where we are?"

"First time here? Well, welcome to Ming Xie village, kid."

"Thank you, sir."

The dockworker nodded and walked away. Kaido turned around and saw Enzo yelling, chasing after a man who was running away. "Kaido! He took our food!" Enzo yelled at him, pointing at the thief. Kaido was about to give chase, but the thief disappeared into the bust crowd in the streets before he could do so.

At sunset, they sat on the side of the streets. The streets are not as busy at sundown, and most merchants have already closed up shop. The town is lined with various stands, with a gravel road for merchant carts. The houses are mostly made of wood, while some were made of stone. The town hall sat at the heart of the village, directly opposite of the docks. Earthbenders patrolled the street, looking out for crimes. The sky was a dark orange-purple shade. In the White Wolf Island, the sky is either dark or grey, and the color of the sky outside was a wonder to both of them. It was something they have never seen before. Kaido closed his eyes after saying good night to Enzo, who was already asleep. He leaned on a wall of a closed house.

"What are you doing in front of my house?" he heard a voice from behind him.

Kaido turned around and saw an old man with a bald head and a long, untrimmed white beard flowing from his chin, his mouth twisted into a frown. He was wearing grey robes, and his eyes were restless brown ones.

"Sorry sir, we have nowhere to sleep. If you do now want us here, then we will find somewhere else." Kaido replied to the old man.

"Somewhere else? Somewhere else!" The old man looked absolutely furious at the time. Enzo woke up with a scream by the old man's shout. "Why? Come in! You can spend the night here!" the old man spoke, smiling, much to Kaido's surprise.

The inside of the house was a lit by a few lanterns, with a low table in the middle of the living room and window grates above it, moonlight shining through. There was also an altar under the window grates, with the picture of a young man and a beautiful woman on it. The old man led them to their room next to the living room. There is not much in the bedroom but a mattress, which was more than enough for Kaido. He was exhausted during the day and fell asleep as soon as he crashed onto the mattress.

Kaido woke up in the middle of the night. He turned around and noticed that Enzo was missing, as the mattress next to him was empty. Kaido got up and walked towards the door, when he heard talking in the other room. He opened the door far enough for him to look through, and saw the old man sipping tea in front of the altar in the living room and Enzo sitting opposite him with another cup of tea laid out in front of him.

"Aren't you going to drink that? Believe me; you should drink tea while it's warm. Or is it because my tea isn't good enough?" The old man said.

"I'm not thirsty…" Enzo replied with a down voice.

"Spit it out, boy. You know that someone has something on their mind when they refuse to drink tea."

Kaido thought that Enzo was going to tell the old man about their exile, but to his relief, he didn't. "It's about me. My mother died giving birth to me, and now my father hates me. The others said that he changed after I was born."

The old man sighed and put his tea down on the table. "Believe me, son, he doesn't hate you."

"What would you know about it?"

"You see, my wife passed away when she gave birth to our first son as well. Now my son is off at war, and I don't hate him. I was never angry at my son for that. He was my final gift from my wife, and I love him as I would love my own child." The old man laughed. "Well, he IS my own child. Anyhow, Enzo, I look at my wife's picture everyday and feel grief for her, but I never, ever fault my son for it. Go to sleep, now, child."

Without another word, Enzo got up and walked towards the door, and Kaido went back to his mattress and pretended to sleep as Enzo walked in. Enzo laid on his bed, his eyes open. Not long after, both of them fell asleep.

Kaido and Enzo woke at a very loud ring of a bell, the old man at the door. "Quickly! The fire Nation is attacking! To the town hall, boys!" the old man ran off.

When Kaido arrived outside, the townspeople were rushing towards the city hall while the earthbenders rushed to the opposite direction, towards the docks. He could see black smoke coming from the horizon towards the dock.

"Go to the town hall, Enzo! Wait there! There's no time to argue." Kaido grabbed Enzo and told him.

"What about you?" Enzo asked.

"I'll go to the docks."

"If you're going, then I'm going too."

"No, you can't. You're not a waterbender, and you're not even trained."

"I'm still going. I thought you said there's no time to argue?"

Kaido grunted. "Fine. Quickly, follow me!" he spoke as he ran off.

At the dock, earthbenders created a line, tearing chunks of rocks from the cliffs and launching it at large warships made of metal, emitting an enormous amount of black smoke. The boulders ricocheted off the hulls harmlessly before crashing into the sea, splashing into the sea. The earthbenders kept throwing large boulders at the ships to no effect. Suddenly, giant fireballs flew from the ships, one crashing into a trading ship right next to them, setting it on fire, while the other two crashed into houses behind them.

Not long after, the fire nation ships reached the docks, and troops started disembarking from them. The troops wore red metal armor and red helmets and white skull masks. One of the earthbenders created an earth spike to block the ships from lowering a bridge, but the earthbender was hit by a fireball from one of the firebenders who leapt off the side of the ship onto the dock.

Suddenly, the earth spike was shattered as the bridge forcefully lowered on them. Five men riding Komodo Rhinos emerged from the ship, one of them sending an arrow into one of the earthbenders' chests, causing him to fall off the docks into the water. An earthbender created a wall to defend himself from arrows, but another komodo rhino rider threw an explosive device at the wall, blowing it open and sending the earthbender flying across the dock into a house.

"We are the Rough Rhinos! Ba Sing Se is ours, and the Earth Kingdom has surrendered! Stand down immediately, or face the consequences!" one of the komodo rhino riders spoke. An earthbender created an earth spike from the ground, which the rider dodged, before launching a jet of fire using his firebending at the earthbender, sending him flying. The other earthbenders quickly fell to the riders and firebender infantry.

Enzo drew his steel katana and charged at the firebending rider, screaming. His attack was cut short, however, as a rider armed with chains wrapped his weapon around Enzo's sword and tugged on it, disarming Enzo and knocking him off balance onto the ground. The firebending rider rode onwards and fired a fireblast at the downed boy, but Kaido summoned water from his water skin and made a shield out of it to block the fireblast, which vaporized the water shield but saved Enzo.

"Looks like we have a waterbender over here." The rider said, launching another fireblast at Kaido.

Kaido drew his sword hilt and used the water inside the scabbard to form a whip-blade as he leapt to the side, dodging the blow. As he dodged, he struck the rider with his water whip, making the rider fall off his komodo rhino. A flaming arrow flew his way, and Kaido turned the water sword into an ice shield, absorbing the impact of the arrow, before liquefying the shield, turning it back into a whip then striking the rider armed with a blow. However, the blow missed as the rider commanded his komodo rhino to evade the attack.

Kaido, seeing the rider off-balance, charged in, but before he could move a step, he tripped over his own feet as another rider armed with chains bound his feet together, causing him to fall over. As a last ditch effort, he turned his water sword into a water blast and launched it at the rider armed with chains, who staggered back, letting go of his chains. Kaido flipped himself over, intent on undoing the chains binding his feet, but before he could get up, he found a halberd pointed at his face at a point blank range, and the firebending rider holding Enzo hostage.

"Capture him." The rider said as fire nation troops bound him and led him into the ship.

"What about this one?" the bombardier komodo rhino rider asked the firebender regarding Enzo.

"The kid? Kill him."


End file.
